Monthly Archives: December 2013

Merry Christmas to all who celebrate this wonderful holiday. May your year be filled with joy and love. Whether you celebrate or not, we encourage you to benefit from Microsoft’s gift giving this holiday season. Take a new 74-409 Server Virtualization with Windows Server Hyper-V and System Center exam for FREE!

If your job has anything to do with designing, implementing, managing, and maintaining a virtualization infrastructure, get a free proof of your skills on current Microsoft virtualization technologies!

Released recently, this new Microsoft exam gets you the title of Microsoft Certified Specialist: Server Virtualization with Windows Server Hyper-V and System Center. With a limited choice of virtualization certifications available today, this may be a good boost for your career from the key industry leader.

Christmas miracle or not (but definitely a good news), Microsoft has just announced the extension for two SQL Server 2008 exams: 70-450 and 70-451, which were supposed to be retired on 31 January 2014. Yet, the vendor has moved the date towards summer, with the exams retirement date being postponed by 6 months: to July 31, 2014.

This means, you can still earn the certifications associated with these exams, namely MCITP: Database Administrator 2008 and MCITP: Database Developer 2008. So, if you were considering earning these certifications and worried that you’d be out of time, you have another half a year to get it done.

Now we can sense a question many certification beginners would be tempted to ask…

..Why would I look at certification exams that will be retired in 6 month (SQL Server 2008 – related) if there is some newer stuff (SQL Server 2012) out there?

Ok, let’s take a closer look as we believe that you SHOULD earn your SQL Server 2008 cert before you proceed with SQL 2012.

First of all, SQL Server 2008 certifications will continue to be honored by the industry. They’ll still look good on the resume, especially combined with relevant work experience. After all, it’s not just about the certification you hold, but the skills you’ve acquired to support it, right? Moreover, the technology of SQL Server 2008 will remain widely used for quite a while. And the experience you get with 2008 will make it a lot easier for you to move to the SQL Server 2012 technology.

So, you can speed up your preparation to become SQL Server 2008 AND 2012 certified before summer 2014. It does look like a tempting path, doesn’t it? Let’s take a closer look at the 2008 to 2012 SQL Server upgrade exams.

This exam is intended for candidates who have already earned any one of the MCTS certifications on SQL Server 2008 and who wish to transition their skills to MCSA: SQL Server 2012. The topics covered include but aren’t limited to:

So, if you are not sure as to whether you should rush into your SQL Server 2008 certification and then upgrade to 2012, or start from scratch with SQL Server 2012, we highly recommend that you take a closer look at the MCSA: SQL Server 2012 path and check the upgrade path above. It looks totally worth it, especially with the discounts Microsoft currently offers. And, SQL Server 2008 AND 2012 do look better on your resume than just SQL Server 2012. Now, which path will you take?

As the year2013 is coming to its end, we look back at the figures and trends of IT certifications it brought us. Certainly, we can’t help looking at the best paid IT certifications. Keep in mind that these figures aren’t everything you need to know (sometimes it’s not about the money, it’s about the potential of your entry level certification and what it can turn into in a matter of 2 years), but why not take a look. This list is based on the survey data from Global Knowledge. Do remember that this data is for the US, and even there it differs based on location, employer, experience and other factors, pure luck notwithstanding:

First of all, ITIL, CISSP, PMP, fancy upper level Microsoft certifications and cloud-based certifications are definitely worth looking into. If you are building your Cisco career, be prepared that your hard-earned CCNA certification won’t pay as high as you could hope for. Yet, your salary will grow as you keep moving up the Cisco ladder. And, given the fact that Cisco has given a massive revamp its certifications this year and stepped up the CCENT/CCNA exam difficulty, we expect the salary level for these candidates to grow next year.

If you are looking at these certifications and paths trying to figure out the direction to take your IT career in 2014, we suggest that besides looking at figures and trends (which are no doubt important), you listen to yourself and do your best focusing on something you really like, the area that is close to your heart and your mindset. And may this be our wish to you for 2014 and beyond:

If becoming a Cisco Certified Design Expert (CCDE) has been somewhere on your bucket list for a while, you’ll have less excuses to keep postponing it next year. Cisco has recently announced that CCDE practical exam would soon be available at all PCC (Pearson Professional Centers) worldwide starting 20 February 2014. So, chances are that you will no longer have to travel too far to take up this exam challenge – a huge time and money saver!

Cisco strives to improve the flexibility of your CCDE exam experience by, firstly, increasing the number of exam locations from 8 to 275 (and counting). Secondly, when choosing your location, you will be able to register up to one day before the test date. Yet, Cisco encourages candidates to register at least 45 days in advance to ensure the exam site you need will be open for the required nine hours to administer the CCDE practical exam.

CCDE Practical Exam Topics:

1.0 Analyze Design Requirements – 36%

1.1 Analyze business requirements, conflicts, and constraints

1.1.a OPEX and CAPEX

1.1.b Project goals

1.1.c Lifecycle and return on investment (ROI)

1.1.d Business environment

1.1.e Compliance and policy

1.2 Analyze technical requirements, conflicts, and constraints

1.2.a Application requirements

1.2.b Compliance and policy

1.3 Analyze physical requirements

1.3.a Topology implications

1.3.b Operational requirements

1.3.c Analyze business and technical risks

1.4 Analyze existing network

1.4.a Network documentation

1.4.b Network infrastructure and its effect on network design

2.0 Develop Network Designs – 39%

2.1 Identify the technology to resolve a specific design problem

2.1.a Functional specifications

2.1.b Network designs

2.1.c Operational considerations

2.2 Analyze the effect on the existing network and services

2.2.a Functional specifications

2.2.b Network designs

2.2.c Operational considerations

2.3 Incorporate best practices within the network design

2.3.a Avoidance of over-engineering

2.3.b Consistent and modularized solution sets throughout the network

2.3.c Industry best practices

2.4 Incorporate business requirements within the network design

2.4.a OPEX and CAPEX

2.4.b Lifecycle and return on investment (ROI)

2.4.c Compliance and policy

3.0 Implement Network Design – 13%

3.1 Analyze implementation options

3.1.a Effect on design

3.1.b Effect on performance, availability, and network management

3.1.c Effect on the business

3.1.d Risk and consequence for a given implementation plan

3.2 Design an implementation plan

3.2.a Interdependencies between services, failure domains, and other architectural elements

3.2.b Implementation timeline and steps

3.2.c Contingency plans for network restoration

4.0 Validate and Optimize Network Design – 12%

4.1 Analyze design choices based on specifications

4.1.a Effect of implementing changes to the original design

4.1.b Effect of different design solutions created by new drivers

4.2 Validate design

4.2.a Test strategy

4.2.b Performance metrics and baselines

4.3 Optimize design

4.3.a KPI

4.3.b Baselines

9 HOURS???

The Cisco CCDE Practical Exam lasts 8 hours. This is a scenario based design exam that aims to assess the candidate’s ability to analyze design requirements, develop network designs, justify design decisions, and validate and optimize a network design that is based on best practices. You will be expected to demonstrate your ability to apply your specific body of knowledge into current business problems of technical network design. The exam, however, does not test for any product-specific knowledge including version of code, implementation and operations specific concepts (assuming you know this already if you’ve made it that far up the Cisco certification ladder).

The exam consists of four sections, and each section contains 25 to 35 queries focused on a different scenario. The total time allotted for the exam can be up to nine hours when the lunch break is included. Candidates can take a lunch break after they have completed section 2 of the exam. Do note that if you return early from lunch, this will not increase the second four-hour block. If you return late, however, your second block will be shorter by the time you’ve been late for. So just don’t be late.

Remember that you won’t be able to go back to a previous query if you have already moved to the next one. Scenario documentation is presented at the beginning of each section. Additional scenario documentation will appear throughout each section – you’ll be getting notifications every time a new document is available for your reference.

You’ll be able to access your results in about 48 hours after completion of the exam by logging in to the Cisco Career Certification Tracing Stem. Don’t be worried, however, if you do not see your results in 2 days as they may take up to 10 business days to appear. Results are Pass/Fail and failing score reports indicate major topic areas where additional study and preparation may be useful. Cisco no longer mails hard copy score reports.

So, as Cisco brings the CCDE practical exam closer to you, it can become just another motivation to boost your career in network design.

ISC’s CISSP (Certified Information Systems Security Professional) certification often comes up in among the highest paid IT certifications. How true is this?

According to Techrepublic.com, CISSP was one of top 5 in-demand IT certifications for 2013, with salary ranging from $65,000 to $111,000. Another source states CISSP the second most paid IT certification this year, with average salary being $103,299. In case you haven’t heard much about the CISSP, let’s shed some light on it. Who knows, it may be your next step towards a rewarding career in the information security.

(ISC)² is a not-for-profit organization that focuses on educating and certifying information security professionals throughout their careers, and its certifications are considered to be the gold standard of information security. To put it short, they’ve got the history and the experience to back their reputation of information security knowledge leaders.

CISSP is a professional level certification. To quality for it, you possess at least five years of direct full-time security work experience in two or more of the ten (ISC)² information security domains (CBK). For those holding either a four-year college degree, a Master’s degree in Information Security, or for possessing one of a number of other certifications from other organizations, one year of professional experience can be waived.

You’ll have to pass a 6-hour written exam at a Pearson Vue training center. So succeed, candidates need to reach a minimum scaled score of 700 points out of 1000 possible points. With the total of 250 multiple choice questions, the exam includes 25 experimental questions that aren’t graded.

As Cisco has updated their CCNA earlier this year, it has recently announced the update to the upper level certification: CCIE. According to the vendor, CCIE Routing and Switching (R&S) exam will be revised from version 4.0 to version 5.0 to better target industry needs with regards to network professionals, especially engineers working in global enterprise environments. The revision should reflect both changes in technology and the evolution of job roles for CCIE certification holders.

The last day to test for both the CCIE Written exam v4.0 (350-001) and Lab exam v4.0 will be June 3, 2014. The CCIE R&S Written and Lab exam v5.0 will be available from June 4, 2014 onwards. So, if you’ve been preparing for the current version of CCIE exams, you still have 6 months to register and take CCIE exams v4.0.

The new Cisco expert level training materials are planned to be released next month.

New Exam Topics and Changes

The new exam curriculum organizes the topics into 6 large domains, which basically means full restructuring (note that v4.0 currently has 11 sections). V5.0 curriculum will include the following domains:

VPN Technologies – tunneling (MPLS’sL2andL3 VPN, DMVPN, IPv6Tunneling) and encryption (IPsecwithpre9 shared key for both the Written and Lab exam and GET VPN for the Written exam only) sub-domains.

Infrastructure Security – Device Security and Network Security (both focusing on features supported on ISR routers and Catalyst 3Ks witches). Excludes topics that rely on dynamic crypto (PKI) or on any remote servers

Infrastructure Services – System Management, Network Services, Quality of Services(QoS) and Network Optimization. Layer2 QoS topics are included in the Written exam only,supporting the Lab exam to focus on platform independent concepts.

You should also keep in mind the weighting factors for each of the six domains. They represent the relative amount of subject knowledge and focus that should be expected in each area for either the Written or the Lab exam. The most important domain is Level 3 Technologies, with 40% weight.

Topics Added to the CCIE Routing and Switching v5.0Written and Lab Exams:

Use IOS Troubleshooting Tools

Apply Troubleshooting Methodologies

Interpret Packet Capture

Implement and Troubleshoot Bidirectional Forwarding Detection

Implement EIGRP (multi-address) Named Mode

Implement, Troubleshoot and Optimize EIGRP and OSPF Convergence and Scalability

Implement and Troubleshoot DM VPN (single hub)

Implement and Troubleshoot IP sec with pre-shared key

Implement and Troubleshoot IPv6 First Hop Security

Lab Equipment and IOS Software List

Cisco’s new CCIE Lab exam tests any feature that can be configured on the following equipment and the IOS Software releases indicated below. You may see equivalent platforms and more recent IOS versions installed in the lab, but you will not be tested on the new features of a release unless indicated below.

As we mentioned earlier, CompTIA has been focusing on mobile technologies and mobile security this year, launching 2 certifications: CompTIA Mobile App Security+ and CompTIA Mobility+, with the latter one having been launched just a few weeks ago.

To help you figure out whether you are ready to take on the challenge of Mobility+ certification, CompTIA has released a quick quiz. Take a look at the questions below to see how many of them you can get. It does not mean that you have to know everything (and if you don’t, our IT community at www.examcollection.com is always there to help you out), but it helps you understand what the level of the certification exams is. Take a look and be sure to let us know what you think (you can find the answers at the very bottom of the post):

1. Which of the following frequencies is assigned to Wi-Fi?

A. 850 MHz
B. 900 MHz
C. 1.2 GHz
D. 2.4 GHz

2. A mobile engineer is conducting site surveys to determine which frequencies are available. Which of the following should she use?

3. Which of the following is the BEST option to disable application inventory and location information from executive mobile devices while obtaining the same information from the rest of the employee mobile devices?

4. Which of the following is the BEST configuration to improve the security of data on a mobile device?

A. Configure the remote lock feature so if the mobile device is stolen it can be unlocked after recovery.
B. Configure remote wipe so if the mobile device is stolen its content can be erased.
C. Configure remote reporting so that the mobile device can report when it is stolen.
D. Configure remote control on the mobile device so it can be remotely administered.

5. A network administrator notices an unusual volume of mobile device traffic going out over FTP to one particular unknown location. Which of the following ports should be blocked?

Looking for ways to sell cloud products and other emerging technology solutions more efficiently? CompTIA has the answer. Yesterday, 4 December, the company announced its latest additions to address opportunities in advanced communications, cloud-based telephony and mobile device management packed into ‘sales playbooks’ that specifically target opportunities in emerging markets.

What Are Sales Playbooks Exactly?

Earlier this year (July 2013), CompTIA has added Sales Playbooks to its arsenal of IT training materials. Sales playbooks are essentially training packages to help resellers hone their skills in prospecting activities and sales campaigns for emerging technology solutions. CompTIA has also created a range of training courses for the channel to help resellers push cloud services more effectively. They help identify, target, position and close new opportunities in the latest technology. The two playbooks launched in summer targeted cloud technologies: – on cloud-based storage and cloud-based backup.

CompTIA also carries out workshops on these playbooks. Topics they cover include understanding customer needs and challenges; the technology landscape; scoping and qualifying questions and articulating customer benefits for specific product sets.

The Recent Addition

As CompTIA issues its Winter 2014 Channel Training Catalog, it includes the three new playbooks:

Cloud-Based Telephony – As in many areas of IT, cloud is making VoIP services both more accessible to the end-user and more viable as an offering for a broader number of solution providers.

Mobile Device Management – As more organizations embrace strategies such as “Bring Your Own Device” and expand the ability of mobile workers to access data outside the office, organizations are challenged with managing an ever growing and diverse inventory of mobile devices.

The playbooks combine workshop sessions with templates and training materials designed to help IT sales teams boost their skills in prospecting activities and sales campaigns for emerging technology solutions. Playbooks on cloud-based storage and cloud-based backup and recovery were introduced earlier this year.

“Our Sales Playbooks have quickly become among the most popular of our training offerings for the IT channel,” said Kelly Ricker, senior vice president, events and education, CompTIA.

When IT beginners, as well as seasoned professionals, contemplate on their certification choices and possible steps to take, many of them ignore HP’s ExpertOne certification program. While it is in demand, with over 500000 certification holders worldwide, HP’s certifications, as well as their balanced approach to IT certifications these days, certainly deserve a closer look if you are on the lookout for a smart IT career path.

The Approach

HP have revamped and reformed their certification program a few years ago, with a goal of finding a middle way between offering vendor-focused certifications and providing their candidates with a broader take on the certification areas (think something in-between Cisco and CompTIA certifications). It certainly makes sense given the wide spectrum of technologies and solutions HP provides, as well as the talent and expertise this Silicone Valley giant hosts.

Needless to say, their certifications are valued by employers for the company’s reputation as well as for the fact that HP does not fully base their study programs and certifications on their own technology and products. With this broader take, a certification holder basically gets solid knowledge and background in their area, but it would not be a prescription for their next job. To compare, imagine investing in a few Cisco certifications and then deciding you want to work for a company that relies on Juniper network equipment. Unthinkable, right? And that’s the approach HP seems to try to avoid. While making special emphasis on their technology, as well as special workshops and stuff for their employees and partners, HP keep IT professionals’ options wide open.

HPExpertOne certification paths layout is pretty standard. The 4 levels cover a broad range of skill levels. Each career certification is aligned to a specific job role, including but not limited to architect, integrator/implementer, administrator and hardware or software support.

Associate – Academic certifications that introduce business and technical skills covering a wide array of HP solutions, targeted at any individual interested in pursuing a career in the IT job market. The credential brand is HP Accredited Technical Associate, or HP ATA.

Professional – Technical certifications that develop the foundational skills needed for the HP small to medium business and mid-market solutions. Skills include designing HP solutions, installing and configuring HP technology, and administrating and supporting the solutions once they are in place. Certifications include storage, server, and networking technologies. The credential brand is HP Accredited Technical Professional, or HP ATP.

Expert – Advanced technical certifications that develop deep technical skills focused on complex enterprise HP technologies and solutions. Skills include designing global solutions, implementing and configuring efficient and effective IT deployments, and administrating and supporting those solutions in a heterogeneous environment. Certifications include but are not limited to Cloud, Converged Infrastructure/advanced data center, Storage, Servers and Networking. The credential brand is HP Accredited Solutions Expert, or HP ASE.

Master – The highest level of certification develops deep technical skills in advanced HP solutions combined with business acumen in the IT domain. Skills include aligning the IT solution to an organization’s financial and business goals, designing and implementing complex solutions from the proposal stage to live implementation using the full breadth of HP technology and portfolio capabilities. Certifications include but are not limited to Cloud, Converged Infrastructure/advanced data center, Storage, and Networking. The credential brand is HP Master Accredited Solutions Expert, or HP Master ASE.

All in all, being an industry leader with a lot to offer to its employees as well as to other IT professionals, HP have come up with certification programs and standards you can benefit from. More information is available on the official website.